Maryland Nursing Homes, Hospitals to Receive $50M in Funding

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has earmarked $50 million in funding for the state’s nursing homes and hospitals to ease workforce challenges and other Covid-related obstacles.

“This additional funding will help further ease some of the burdens the COVID-19 pandemic has caused our hospitals and skilled nursing facilities across the state,” Maryland Department of Health Secretary Dennis R. Schrader said in a statement.

Specifically, hospitals and SNFs will receive $25 million each.

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The cash infusion comes on the heels of the Covid-19 public health emergency being extended Oct. 13 for an additional 90 days — now ending in mid-January 2023.

When a decision is made to terminate the declaration or let it expire, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has said it will provide 60 days’ notice to interested parties before termination.

The post-acute care staffing shortage has had a wide-ranging effect, including backlogging referrals from hospitals into nursing homes.

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Some health systems have gone so far as to provide nursing homes additional payments to accept residents, and in some cases offered clinical staff to help with patient care, Modern Healthcare reported earlier this month.

The rejection rate in skilled nursing facilities jumped to 88% through the first quarter of 2022, according to data provided to Modern Healthcare by WellSky, a health and community care technology company. The rejection rate was 65% at the beginning of the year.

Similarly, six in 10 facilities have had to limit new admissions due to staffing shortages, according to an August report released by the American Health Care Association and National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL).

An additional $30 million has also been allocated to Medicare Advantage (MA) plans that operate in Maryland. Recognizing that MA is a federal program, the state’s department of health noted that this funding was a one-time program to “stabilize the market as the plans work to develop long-term proposals to discuss with the federal government.”

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